


When You Love Someone

by ChocolateCapCookie



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Married Couple, Married Fluff, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Feels, This is just pure fluff and nothing else okay, Tired Steve Rogers, Tired Tony Stark, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24031483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocolateCapCookie/pseuds/ChocolateCapCookie
Summary: Tumblr prompt:Your OTP comes home after a very long drive. Person A is wide awake, but Person B is extremely exhausted and falls asleep in a very uncomfortable spot. Person A wants to carry them to bed, but there’s a problem: B is really tall and REALLY heavy, and A is very weak.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 22
Kudos: 171
Collections: POTS (18+) Smol Steve Appreciation Bingo





	When You Love Someone

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Pain in My Back (And Ass)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23624377) by [fanbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanbird/pseuds/fanbird). 



> Credit to [fanbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanbird/pseuds/fanbird) for the prompt and the idea!
> 
> For context, MCU Tony is 6’1” and about 200-210 pounds, according to various unreliable internet sources. Pre-serum Steve was a 96-pound weakling as we all know, and he was about 5'4", or almost an entire foot shorter than Tony, which I find extremely fucking adorable.
> 
> (Edited 9/5 to fix the heights)

Steve Rogers loved his husband. He really, really did. Tony was the most amazing, wonderful, beautiful person Steve could ever have hoped to be with, and he woke up every day wondering how someone as weak and scrawny as himself could ever end up with someone like Tony. He’d never stop being grateful for whatever fates had put Tony in his life.

That said, being married to Tony could get a bit annoying as well. 

It wasn’t the whole ‘never puts the glasses in the dishwasher’ thing, Steve knew by now that glasses were always his to wash, and he gladly did it knowing Tony never complained about him leaving the toilet seat up. It wasn’t even the fact that Tony always neatly folded every bit of clean laundry and goaded Steve into it too, even when Steve couldn’t see the point of it (He’d just wear them again in a few days, why waste time folding sweatpants and t-shirts, and, god forbid, shirts?), but those were just little quirks. Easy things to overlook when you loved someone.

But on nights like tonight, when he'd spent his entire waking day being paraded around like nothing more than Tony’s arm candy, taking pictures for the press and staying up half the night at the after party, Steve seriously considered whether coming out to the public about their relationship had been a wise move.

Well, they’d been drunk, high, horny and completely in love when they’d posted that picture of themselves together, so it wasn’t like considerations of wisdom would have stopped them anyway.

Now, eighteen hours after they had left Stark Tower for a full day of interviews and press releases before the official launch of Stark Industries’ newest green energy initiative, Steve and Tony were driving back home, alone and exhausted. In hindsight, it would have been better to ask Happy to drive them so they could have caught up on some sleep, but neither of them had wanted to wait the extra five minutes it would have taken for Happy to show up, and they’d just grabbed the keys for themselves.

They really deserved the #ImpulsiveCoupleGoals hashtag that had followed them around for a while after their coming out.

It was at least a two-hour drive from the convention center to Stark Tower, and Steve was honestly terrified that they’d never make it there, given how much Tony was yawning. Even as he watched, Tony fell asleep for a couple of seconds before jerking back awake and gripping the steering wheel. Steve could relate.

He placed a thin hand on Tony’s thigh, rubbing his fingers gently as far as he could reach. “Do you want me to take over for a bit?”

“No, I’m fine,” said Tony, trying and failing to stifle a yawn, “It’s only another forty-five minutes.”

“Driving while exhausted is the highest cause of car crashes, Tony,” Steve informed him. “Let me take over for a bit. Just so I can be sure you don’t kill us.”

“I am not dying in a _car crash,_ Steve, that’s such a boring way to die. When I die, I’m gonna go out in _flames.”_ He yawned again, this time making no effort to hide it, and Steve couldn’t help but smile at how adorable it was, holding back a yawn himself.

“Crashing this car would be a great way to go up in flames,” he said tiredly, preening at the laugh that he got from Tony. He liked making Tony laugh. But wasn’t there a point to this conversation, somewhere?

“Tony, just let me drive back. It’s not much farther now, and you’re dead tired.”

“So are you,” snarked Tony, but he sighed and pulled over so they could switch seats. “Are you sure? I know today was exhausting for you too.”

“I’ll be fine, Tony,” said Steve, pressing a quick kiss to Tony’s cheek before buckling himself in. “I'm more awake than you are, anyway.”

“I’ll stay awake with you,” said Tony as Steve pulled back onto the road, but it was barely thirty seconds before his eyes were shut and he was slumped against the passenger window, falling asleep. Steve spared a glance at his husband, unable to help a soft smile from spreading across his face at how relaxed and soft Tony looked. His gelled hair was falling out of the shape Pepper had so painstakingly styled, and it kept flopping over his forehead. His eyes twitched every time the car hit a small bump, reminding Steve of a rabbit.

“Sweetheart,” called Steve, gently rubbing a hand over Tony’s hair to wake him up. Tony snuffled awake, confused for a few seconds and Steve felt his heart almost literally melt at how sweet Tony looked. “You wanna go sleep in the back? We still have to drive more than half an hour, and this isn’t really the most comfortable spot to fall asleep.”

Tony was, for once, too exhausted to argue. Giving Steve a kind of half-nod, he clambered into the backseat and immediately stretched his lithe body to fill the space. The next time Steve took his eyes off the road, Tony was deeply asleep, his cuffs and top shirt buttons undone, his shoes kicked off, his head pillowed in his arms. Steve smiled as he heard Tony mumble in his sleep; the car was too loud to make out what he was saying, but it was still adorable.

Steve rubbed his eyes harshly, trying not to fall asleep himself. The long lonely road and Tony’s soft snores were making him feel even more exhausted than he already was, and he had to force himself to keep driving. _Just twenty more minutes and we’ll be home._ He tried to think about random things to distract himself. The applause Tony had gotten tonight, how beautiful he had looked in that suit, announcing the launch of a product that could probably cure global warming. It was _his_ husband up there, being praised and lauded for his hard work. Steve felt as proud for him as if he had designed and invented the damn thing himself.

As he remembered the beaming smile Tony had shot him from the stage, his heart gave a little lurch. He panicked for a moment, wondering if his heart palpitations had decided to flare up again, but he calmed when he realized it was just a physical reaction to how much he loved the man currently fast asleep behind him. He could learn every bit of knowledge from every book under the stars, and still not understand what good he had done in order to have Tony in his life. Sure a lot of people said this about their partners, but Steve was truly the luckiest man on Earth. Steve had to forcibly stop himself from taking his eyes off the road and bending over to kiss Tony. After all, the faster he drove, the faster they could go home and cuddle. Besides, his bones would probably break if he tried to twist himself to that angle.

Steve always loved Stark Tower for its aesthetic value, but he had never been as glad to see it as he was right now, driving into the large garage and turning the ignition off. He rested his head against the headrest for a moment, eyes closed, and exhausted beyond all belief. The urge to just fall asleep right there was very, very tempting, but Steve valiantly shook his head to wake himself and climbed out of the car, trying not to collapse on his bony legs.

Steve opened the door next to Tony's head, careful not to make too rough of a motion and force his husband awake. “Tony,” he said quietly, rubbing a hand over his husband’s cheek to wake him. “We’re home.”

Nothing.

Sighing, Steve tapped him gently on the shoulder. “Babe, you need to get up.”

Still nothing.

That was fine. Steve didn’t really want to wake him anyway. Tony had been having a lot of sleepless nights lately, preparing for this launch, he deserved one night of uninterrupted sleep, at least. He and Tony were about the same height, Steve was only about half a foot shorter. He could handle carrying Tony to bed, no problem

It took Steve about fifteen minutes of trying to carry Tony out at that awkward angle before he realized that yes, it might be a problem. Of course Steve, the impulsive non-genius in this relationship, hadn’t paused to consider that height didn’t matter when you were trying to lift something - or in this case some _one_ \- who was more than double your weight.

Not for the first time in his life, Steve cursed his skinny, frail body and his useless muscles. What was the point of being a husband if he couldn’t even carry his husband to bed when he needed to?

“JARVIS, what do I do?”

“I could play some loud music to wake Sir up,” the AI suggested, causing Steve to scowl in the general direction of the ceiling.

“No, don’t, I don’t want to frighten him awake.” He sighed and rubbed a hand over his weary eyes. “I don’t want to wake him at all. He needs the sleep.”

“As much as I agree with you, my calculations show that with your mass and body proportions, it would be physically possible for you to carry Sir even a short distance without suffering serious muscle damage, let alone the long walk to your bedroom.”

“I didn’t need math to tell me that,” sniped Steve, and then instantly felt guilty. “Shit, I’m sorry, JARVIS. I’m just exhausted, I didn’t mean that.”

“No offense taken, Master Rogers.”

Steve looked at Tony again, peacefully asleep, stretched out like a contented cat in the back seat. He hadn’t woken up or even been disturbed through the entire conversation, even when Steve was trying to carry him. He’d just shuffled a bit and fallen right back to sleep, probably having a confusing dream about a very rough sea voyage. The poor guy must have been really exhausted.

There was only one logical conclusion, really. Tony wouldn’t wake up, Steve couldn’t wake him up, Steve wasn’t going to go upstairs and leave Tony sleeping alone, which meant…

“I guess I’m sleeping in the car, then, too JARVIS,” said Steve tiredly, as he clambered back into the front seat, “At least until he wakes up.”

Already half asleep, Steve shut the door with a little too much force, not noticing what he was doing. The resulting BANG! reverberated through the car, making Steve’s heart go into overdrive again, and Tony promptly fell off the seat.

“Steve...what?” he asked sleepily, popping up from between the seats with his eyes half closed. Steve, still trying to calm his defective heart down, shot Tony a weak, apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry, Tony,” he said, his eyes taking in the adorable bedhead look his husband was sporting, which clashed so brilliantly with his fancy clothes. “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“No..th’t’s fine...you okay? I thought...we were in a car crash or something.”

“We’ve been home for about 20 minutes, Tony,” said Steve with a smile. “We’re okay.”

“Well, then why are we still in the car?” asked Tony, confused and still a little disoriented.

“I couldn’t wake you,” explained Steve, climbing out of his seat and opening the door for Tony to climb out as well. “And I figured it was more important to let you sleep.”

“Master Rogers forgot to mention that he also spent fifteen minutes and twelve seconds attempting to carry you to your bed, bridal-style,” said JARVIS, amusement clear in his voice. Steve scowled and flipped off one of the cameras in the garage as Tony broke into a loud peal of laughter.

“Steve, are you serious? Why the hell would you try to carry me?”

“You always carry me around everywhere,” pouted Steve, crossing his arms and trying not to look like a child. “I just wanted to return the favour.”

“Steve, honey,” laughed Tony, pulling at his husband’s elbow and leading him to the elevator, “That’s not how the physics works.”

“I know,” said Steve, sadly. “Just wanted to be a good husband is all.”

“Steve, baby, you are an amazing husband,” said Tony earnestly, resting his head on Steve’s neck and wrapping an arm around his waist. “Anybody who could put up with all the bullshit I put you through today is an amazing husband, as far as I’m concerned.”

Steve smiled shyly. “Thanks,” he said, too tired to say anything else, even if he had the ability to articulate it.

Steve flopped onto their couch as soon as the elevator pulled into the penthouse, too tired to even think of walking to their bedroom. Tony, slightly energized by his brief nap, gently undressed Steve and coaxed him into the bathroom for a quick shower, both men leaning on each other to stay awake.

Steve stuffed himself into their bed as quickly as possible and Tony followed him a few seconds after, cradling Steve so that his head rested on Tony’s chest, a protective arm wrapped around his waist. Steve was half asleep as he felt Tony press a gentle kiss to his forehead. “G’night Steve. I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

There was a beat of silence.

“JARVIS, make sure you save the footage of Steve trying to carry me to the “Adorable Steve Moments” folder.”

Steve’s eyes shot awake.

“Tony, what the _fuck_?”

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything in a long time and it feels rlly therapeutic, especially with the shit that's going on. Stay safe guys!


End file.
